Seoul, May 7 : An appeals court on Wednesday sentenced a Chinese former employee of SK hynix to five years in prison for leaking the company's core semiconductor technology.

The Suwon High Court handed down the sentence, along with a 30 million-won ($21,500) fine, to the 37-year-old defendant for leaking company secrets by printing out some 4,000 pages of material on solutions to semiconductor manufacturing problems, shortly before transferring to Chinese technology firm Huawei in 2022.

"With high technological and economic value, the material is considered core state technology and includes business secrets with large repercussions at the national level," the court said, reports Yonhap news agency.

"These types of crimes jeopardize the survivability of domestic companies and have a negative impact on the country's industrial competitiveness," it added.

During the initial trial last year, a district court had sentenced the defendant to 1 1/2 years in prison and a fine of 20 million won.

Meanwhile, South Korean stocks rose for the second consecutive session on Wednesday, driven by hopes for US-China trade negotiations. The local currency rose to a five-month high against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 14.01 points, or 0.55 percent, to close at 2,573.80, following a 0.12 percent gain on Friday. The local financial market closed on Monday and Tuesday for the Children's Day and Buddha's Birthday holidays.

Trade volume was moderate at 538.5 million shares worth 8.79 trillion won (US$6.29 billion), with gainers closely outnumbering decliners 460 to 415.

Tech giant Samsung Electronics rose 0.55 percent to 54,600 won, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix advanced 2.58 percent to 190,800 won.

Top defence firm Hanwha Aerospace vaulted 8.8 percent to 890,000 won, and LIG Nex1 added 1.97 percent to 336,500 won. However, bio shares went south as leading pharma Celltrion dropped 1.29 percent to 160,300 won, and Samsung Biologics declined 4.06 percent to 1.04 million won.

/IANS